Rootcanal work from hell

Did anyone have the experience of having a root canal done and when the work is over, the pain is at least tehfold from the original pain that you went to the dentist for?

I had previou root canals done bu, never with this results. It's normal to feel a little sensativity for a few days but, I'm talking about full blown throbbing, piercin pain and every time I return to the dentist he says h e is very sorry and gives me more painkillers.

By now I can open a pharmavy but, what really worries me is that Im going to become an addict.

Why is this happening? I thought once the work is done the roots are dead and there should'nt be any pain anymore.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it and then go back to the pain I know like headaches avd muscle aches.

Did anyone have the experience of having a root canal done and when the work is over, the pain is at least tehfold from the original pain that you went to the dentist for?

I had previou root canals done bu, never with this results. It's normal to feel a little sensativity for a few days but, I'm talking about full blown throbbing, piercin pain and every time I return to the dentist he says h e is very sorry and gives me more painkillers.

By now I can open a pharmavy but, what really worries me is that Im going to become an addict.

Why is this happening? I thought once the work is done the roots are dead and there should'nt be any pain anymore.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it and then go back to the pain I know like headaches avd muscle aches.

Thanks,
Nielk

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This doesn't sound right Neilk. I would suspect there is still an infection going on that needs to be addressed. I would consider having this checked out by another dentist to get a second opinion.

I myself had one root canal in my life, and eventually had it extracted after hearing of many of the health issues that can be associated with them. Many of my own chronic illness symptoms subsided as a result. Unfortunately, root canals can present any number of problems. I hope you can figure something out for yourself to get beyond this crisis.

I do agree with Wayne's comments - during my severe ilness my teeth "crumbled" crowns fell out leaving some roots in. X-rays revealed some infection and my Dentist insisted on 4 removals. The Dental Surgeon without too much pain (injections) removed successfully and immediately put me onto Amoxillin (high dose) for a week. Root pains did linger on as healing took place but the overall effect on my health has been good and any grumblings in remaining teeth seem to have disappeared. (masses of probiotics taken mostly after treatment for GI problems). Hope you can ease too Nielk.

Thanks Wayne and Enid for your replies.
I have had so many root canals done that I think it's impossible to remove all of the.
The current one, even though it's finished and I have been on anti biotics for 9 days so far, is still in a lot of pain.
When I ask my dentist why, he says he doesn't know but it happens in 1% of root canals.

I have had so many root canals done that I think it's impossible to remove all of the.
The current one, even though it's finished and I have been on anti biotics for 9 days so far, is still in a lot of pain.
When I ask my dentist why, he says he doesn't know but it happens in 1% of root canals.

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Is your dentist a specialist in root canals--Endodontist? If not, I would suggest you get a second opinion--actually I'd get a second opinion anyway. This doesn't seem right.

I do agree with Wayne that root canals can cause general health problems as it is almost impossible to fully clean out all the canals. There are a few dentists who use a flexible laser to do this (it bends around the curves in the canal), but there are not very many of these.

My functional dentist did find that I had health problems related to old root canals, but dealing with this is very expensive and inconvenient and I have not yet done it. It would mean having the root canal work done again using a flexible laser or pulling the teeth and getting some kind of implant or bridge. This has been too much for me to deal with right now, though I recognize that it could be important.

I don't think it's off-topic, but then I had 5 by age 34! Your teeth are a reflection of your immune system quite often. I agree that you should see an endodontist (even though that's like hearing "go straight to hell" in my book) who has state-of-the-art digital x-rays and can look at everything on a huge scale. I suspect something would be evident right away, it's amazing the detail they can see with the newer technology.

My 5 root canals were all extremely miserable and complicated, none were "run of the mill" at all. You're quite right that there is substantial jaw, tooth, and mouth pain after one of these, especially depending on where it is and what it's next to. Sometimes a neighboring tooth gets traumatized during the procedure and remains sensitive for a long time (I've had sensitivity up to 4 months+ afterward, to the point of constant problems). But, my experience also tells me that, even when my dentist has started a RC, only kill what's left to make the pain bearable--and he tells me to expect only about a 10% improvement in pain--I usually have about a 90%+ reduction (but they have to be killed). I've 'learned' it's the pressure inside of the sealed tooth when the roots are dying and the blood and such are building up that is where the INTENSE pain comes from, but I've also had residual pain after the short, part-1 of the RC, when not every root was killed or cleaned out well enough (and that's just for temporary purposes).

Unfortunately, the abx won't do anything really for a sealed infection if that is what is going on. I know that when I'm in that particular unbearable pain, I have threatened to pull my own tooth out with pliers (my dentist was not impressed at all, but hopefully got the message), and I was quite serious. Even having it opened up should stop the pain or lessen it, and I would demand that if you are in too much pain to wait for an endodontist. It's gross to have an open root canal, but far less painful and far less trouble for infections and such.

Keep us posted and hope you get some relief. The drugs (I can't handle any narcs or quasi-narcs) are just awful. I'm super tired, so there are probably some typos, repeats in this, but hopefully it's comprehensible.

I had a root canal done last week. It was my second root canal ever and this one hurt like hell (during the first one I had no pain). It was so painful, the dentist kept saying he was sorry and he kept asking his assistant to give me more sedation. The pain was really through the roof. Afterwards it hurt like hell as well, I could hardly drive home, because the pain was blinding me. Within 1.5 hours the pain subsided though.

Anyway, as the dentist is messing around with nerve tissue, the pain afterwards can be quite hefty, especially if the nerve is badly inflamed. If the pain is really bad and it doesn't get better after a few days, there might be complications:

- missed a root
- some pulp tissue remains in one of the roots (it's impossible to clean the entire root most of the time, because they can have many secondary canals)
- inflammation has spread below the below the root (root canal won't fix that). This only happens when the pulp has become necrotic though, it takes time.

Thanks everyone for your reply.
Today is the first day that I'm not in agony. It's still painful but, better.
I hope I'm on my way to recovery.
I would think that if there was bone damage it would show up on the x-ray?
If it doesn't continue to heal I will definitely go to a specialist.

It's so hard to judge with these things if the dentist really did his job well?
You kind of have to have faith that he does. You don't really see what he is doing and even if I would see, I wouldn't know to judge.
You are really at their mercy.

Reading about your experience makes me cringe! also reminds me how lucky i am (can't believe i just said that), at least with the root canals -5 or 6- that i've had done... just the "normal" pain before, & during the procedure.

something is wrong; sounds like active infection. you have gone _way_ beyond what you should endure.

hope the tooth can be saved but at some point you may have to make that decision. i have 4 implants that have worked out ok. Such an endurance test though. sorry for the extra pain and the energy loss.

Thanks 5150 for your empathy.
It's funny how absorbed I was before with the daily suffering and frustrations and then this comes out of the blue totally unexpected!
Is it so that I should just appreciate the pains that I have and remind me that it could be worse?
There is always something that can make our situation worse. So many scenarios that we don't even think of.
I am on my last day of antibiotics. That's why I believe there is no infection but, who knows maybe this antibiotic is not working, maybe I should have taken another.
I think Illl know by tomorrow because if it continues to get better, I think I'll be ok. (I mean with my tooth problem)